News

In the Budget of 2012 George Osborne initially proposed imposing VAT on all hot food. This had the effect of uniting the North and South—(Well the South West anyway). Yes 20% vat on pies, steak bakes and the venerable Cornish pasty beloved by the masses and not just in Cornwall!

The media loved this and portrayed it as an attack on the staple diet of the working classes of Great Britain. After a relatively short media campaign, the government relented and brought in some new, more complicated rules on hot food. This was sufficient to appease the bakers, and the consumers.

Whilst the recent budget didn’t throw up any significant headline announcements for our Manufacturing Sector, there were various items outlined which should have a positive impact on the sector, including:

Research & Development

The rate of the R&D expenditure credit for non SMEs will be increased from 11% to 12% with effect from 1 January 2018.

Over the last couple of months the legal sector team at Armstrong Watson has received a number of queries from Directors with regard to their eligibility for statutory entitlements such as free child care and statutory maternity pay.

In a limited company structure, Directors will often decide to pay themselves their salary once a year through their annual payroll. This is particularly true in small companies without other non-director employees.

After watching a good webinar this morning I thought I’d share a summary.

More and more retailers are moving into the Amazon sales channel. Whether it be simply selling on Amazon or the full works by using Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) where Amazon hold the stock, take orders and deal with distribution.

FBA is more expensive but you can take advantage of Amazon’s great shipping rates and you don’t have to pay for someone to do your packaging and getting the items collected.

Our unique business support for law firms and our endorsement by the Law Society mean that we act for over 100 law firms every year. As a result, we gather a huge amount of financial and operational information on those firms which we compile in our benchmarking database. Although each and every one of our law firm clients receive a personalised benchmarking report for discussion as we review their annual accounts, we have also summarised the results of all of the firms in our annual benchmarking report for 2016/17.

There are number of areas in the Autumn Budget that will impact on the retail sector.

The reduction in the VAT registration threshold which had been suggested prior to the budget was avoided, at least for now, with the threshold frozen at £85,000 for the next two years whilst the government consults on the matter.

Making Tax Digital is edging closer and from April 2019, businesses trading above the VAT registration threshold will need to report their VAT information through this system.

It will come with little surprise that the second budget of 2017 failed to offer significant headline announcements, despite the rumour mill going in to overdrive during the past few days.

The Chancellor delivered a budget speech based predominantly on the economic climate, with specific focuses on growth and debt, especially given the backdrop of the impending ‘Brexit’ effect. Growth and decreasing unemployment bring optimism for a post ‘Brexit’ Britain and offer some reassurance to family business owners - although there will be challenging obstacles ahead.

Armstrong Watson LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales, number OC415608. The registered office is 15 Victoria Place, Carlisle, CA1 1EW where a list of members is kept. Armstrong Watson LLP is regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for a range of investment business activities. Unless otherwise indicated, either expressly or by the context, we use the word “partner” to describe a member of Armstrong Watson LLP or an employee of Armstrong Watson LLP in their capacity as such.

Armstrong Watson Audit Limited is registered to carry on audit work in the UK and Ireland by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Registered as a limited company in England and Wales, number 8800970. The registered office is 15 Victoria Place, Carlisle, CA1 1EW.